Narrow elastic fabric for apparel waistbands

ABSTRACT

A narrow elastic fabric suitable for use in the band encircling portion of articles of apparel. The fabric comprises a set of filling yarns running in the transverse direction of the fabric and a set of warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the fabric. The warp yarns comprise elastic yarns, stretch synthetic yarns and nonelastic yarns. There are twice as many stretch synthetic yarns as there are elastic yarns and three times as many nonelastic yarns as there are stretch yarns in the warp set. The nonelastic yarns are woven with the filling yarns in a twill weave whereas the remaining warp yarns are woven with the filling yarns in a plain weave so that the face surface of the fabric is primarily composed of nonelastic yarns.

United States Patent 1 1 Campbell et al. Jan. 7, 1975 [54] NARROWELASTIC FABRIC FOR APPAREL 1,376,544 9/1964 France 139/422 WAISTBANDS1,423,893 11/1965 France 139/422 75 Inventors: Roger G. Campbell;Richard E. OTHER PUBLICATIONS Goff, Jr., both of Barrington; NarrowFabric Weaving, By A. Thompson and Sigrid Normand D. Guay, Woonsocket,all Bick, Harlequin Press, Manchester & London, pgs. of R.l. 190-191,relied on. [73] Asslgnee: {ST New Primary Examiner-James Kee Chi [22]Filed: June 14, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 370,103 A narrowelastic fabric suitable for use in the band encircling portion ofarticles of apparel. The fabric comprises a set of filling yarns runningin the transverse [g2] 139/421, 2/237 direction Ofthe fabric and a Setof warp yams running D d 15/08 A41d l/06 in the longitudinal directionof the fabric. The warp [5 Fred 0 Search 139/f121-423, yams compriseelastic yams, Stretch Synthetic yams 2/237 22 161/77 and nonelasticyarns. There are twice as many stretch synthetic yarns as there areelastic yarns and three [56] References cued times as many nonelasticyarns as there are stretch UNITED STATES PATENTS yarns in the warp set.The nonelastic yarns are woven 3,172,430 3/1965 Weidhaas 139/422 withthe filling yarns in a twill weave whereas the re- 3,597,30O 8/1971Miller 139/421 X maining warp yarns are woven with the filling yarns inPATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS a plain WCZIVC 50 that 111C face surface Of thefabric 15 282,074 4/1968 Australia 139/421 pnman'y Composed ofnonelastic yams" 1,485,827 5/1967 France 139/422 7 Claims, 14 DrawingFigures 1 ab. ZQL-1 Zfl NARROW ELASTIC FABRIC FOR APPAREL WAISTBANDSThis invention relates to narrow elastic fabrics and more particularlyto a narrow elastic fabric suitable for use in articles of wearingapparel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The narrow elastic fabric of the presentinvention may be used in the band encircling portions of various typesof articles of apparel such as the leg encircling or waist encirclingportion of a girdle or the waist encircling portion of a pair oftrousers and the like. The type of garment and the place in the garmentwhere the narrow elastic fabric is to be used will determine the amountof stretch and the modulous of elasticity required in the elasticfabric. The amount of stretch and the modulous of elasticity of anelastic fabric for use in a girdle will be different than that desiredfor use in trousers. Also the amount of elasticity and modulous ofelasticity required in the leg encircling portion of a gar ment may bedifferent than that required in the waist encircling portion of agarment.

The present invention will be described in its preferred use as awaistband in trousers, however, as is well known in the art the amountof elasticity and the modulous of elasticity may be varied.

waistbands and especially trouser waistbands often suffer from what istermed unsightly rollover; that is, the band of the trouser or othergarment will turn over on itself during wear or afterwards. There havebeen a number of techniques for reducing or eliminating this rollover.One such technique is to place a curvilinear or concave cross-section inthe waistband.

With the advent of the use of such materials as double knit fabrics introusers some stretch fabrics have been developed for use in thewaistbands of these garments to provide the required stiffness andstretch. Some of these stretch fabrics have been developed to correctthe rollover problem; however, the prior art products are heavy, haveconsiderable thickness and are difficult to incorporate in the trouserso as to present a nice appearance. This is especially true in thelighter weight or summer weight trousers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION We have discovered an improved narrow elasticfabric which is suitable for use in the band encircling portion ofarticles of clothing to prevent unsightly rollover. Our new fabric isvery thin, almost see-through, and lightweight. It has excellent wallstability to prevent the rollover and excellent resiliency or snapbackwhen creased or bent. Our new waistband has good washability and minimumshrinkage.

Though monofilament filling yarns are used in the transverse directionof the fabric to provide the desired wall stability and prevent rolloverour new fabric has excellent coverage of these monofilament yarns andunexpectedly has excellent resiliency even though monofilament yarns areused. Also our new fabric has a satin appearing surface to allow it tobe used by itself in the article of wearing apparel.

Our new fabric has a face surface and a back surface and is woven from aset of filling yarns running in the transverse direction of the fabricand a set of warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of thefabric The set of warp yarns comprise elastic yarns, stretch syntheticyarns and nonelastic yarns. There are twice as many stretch syntheticyarns as there are elastic yarns in the warp set and there are threetimes as many nonelastic yarns as there are stretch synthetic yarns inthe warp set. The nonelastic warp yarns are woven with the filling yarnsin a twill weave preferably a two over one twill weave. This twill weavecauses the face surface of the fabric to be primarily composed of thenonelastic yarns and provides this surface with a pleasing appearance.The stretch synthetic yarns are woven with the filling yarns in a plainone by one weave and the elastic yarns are woven with the filling yarnsin a plain one by one weave. There are at least two stretch syntheticyarns used between elastic yarns. The above described weaving of thestretch synthetic yarns and the elastic yarns provides a complimentarydiamond pattern to the pattern of the nonelastic yarns on the facesurface to give a satin appearance to the fabric. The weave as describedabove provides the face surface with frictional characteristics whichprevent slippage and give excellent coverage of the filling yarns sothat they are not readily apparent in the final fabric. Furthermore thespecific weave unexpectedly provides resiliency in the transversedirection of the fabric even though the fabric is thin and lightweight.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be more fully describedwhen taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a narrow elastic fabric of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the narrow elasticfabric of the present invention in the stretched state as woven.

FIG. 2a is a cross-sectional view taken at line 2a of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2b is a cross-sectional view taken at line 2b of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2c is a cross-sectional view taken at line 20 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the narrow elasticfabric of the present invention in the relaxed state.

FIG. 3a is a cross-sectional view taken at line 3a of FIG. 3.

FIG. 3b is a cross-sectional view taken at line 3b of FIG. 3.

FIG. 3c is a cross-sectional view taken at line 36 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing the weave of the elastic yarns.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing the weave of the nonelasticyarns.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the twill patterns formed by theelastic yarns and the nonelastic yarns.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the edge portion of thenarrow elastic fabric of the present invention taken along line 7-7 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 8 shows a portion of a pair of trousers incorporating the narrowelastic fabric waistband of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings in FIG. 1there is shown a plan view of the narrow elastic fabric 14 of thepresent invention. The filling yarns run in the transverse direction ofthe fabric and the warp yarns run in the longitudinal direction 16 ofthe fabric.

As is more clearly seen in FIG. 2 (stretched state) and FIG. 3 (relaxedstate) the filling yarns 17 are monofilament yarns to provide thenecessary wall stability in the transverse direction of the yarns.Monofilament yarns are preferred because they have the desiredstiffness. Monofilament yarns approximately 13 mils or 850 denier aresuitable to form the thin lightweight narrow elastic fabrics of thepresent invention. Nylon yarns are preferred though polyester or othersynthetic monofilaments yarns may be used.

Woven with the filling yarns are the elastic warp yarns 18, the stretchsynthetic yarns 19, and the nonelastic warp yarns 20. The nonelasticwarp yarns are woven so as to be on the face surface of the fabric. Asis more clearly seen in the cross-sectional views FIGS. 2a, b, and c andFIGS. 3a, b, and c the elastic yarns 18 and the stretch yarns 19contract when the fabric is relaxed. However, the nonelastic yarns 20are bulked or raised when the fabric is allowed to relax.

Preferably the nonelastic yarns are bright nylon multifilament yarns andare woven with the monofilament filling yarns in a two by one twillweave; that is, with the warp yarn passing over two fillings then underone filling yarn as shown in FIGS. 2b and 3b, with every fourthnonelastic warp yarn being a repeat. This twill weave produces a verypleasing pattern on the face surface of the fabric as depicted in FIG.5.

It is preferred that the nonelastic warp yarns be a bright fiber to givea satiny appearance. Suitable yarns would be multifilament bright nylonyarns having ten twists per inch and being from about 100/20/10 to100/65/ 10 One hundred denier yarn having a denier per filament of 1.5to 5 are satisfactory for forming the face surface of the fabric.

The elastic yarns l8 and the stretch synthetic yarns 19 are woven asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and form the back surface of the fabric. Twice asmany stretch synthetic yarns are used as elastic yarns with at least twostretch synthetic yarns woven in between adjacent elastic yarns as shownin the drawings. The stretch synthetic yarns are preferably stretchnylon through stretch polyester yarns and the like may also be used.Suitable stretch nylon are 70's/2.

The elastic yarns used are Spandex core yarns about size 1680 wrappedwith 70s/2 stretch nylon with both a top and a bottom wrap for goodcoverage of the Spandex core.

Both the elastic yarn and the stretch synthetic yarns are woven in a oneby one plain weave; however, by placing two stretch synthetic yarnsbetween adjacent elastic yarns a complimentary diamond pattern is formedby the elastic yarns also on the face surface of the narrow elasticfabric as schematically shown in FIG. 4. The complimentary patternsshown in FIG. 6 give excellent coverage of the monofilament fillingyarns and provide excellent support to the monofilament filling yarnswhich it is theorized unexpectedly improves the wall stability and theresiliency of the entire fabric.

In weaving our new elastic fabric approximately 34 picks or fillingyarns per inch are woven into the fabric so that the finished fabriccontains about 48 filling yarns per inch or maybe even more. The warpcount of the fabric is generally in the ratio of 312 nonelasticmultifilament warp yarns, 104 stretch synthetic warp yarns and 52elastic yarns so that the ratio is about 6 2 1 respectively. Thesenumbers are for 2 /2 inch wide fabric.

When using monofilament filling yarns they bend over themselves informing the selveges of the fabric and become quite harsh and rough andcan be uncomfortable to the wearer when the fabric is placed in thearticle of wearing apparel. To overcome this edge roughness in thenarrow elastic fabric the edges are woven as is shown in FIG. 7. Wherethe monofilament filling yarn l7 bends about itself to form the nextfilling, stretch synthetic yarns 21 such as stretch nylon, preferably /2nylon, are woven in a tubular weave with this edge of the filling yarn.Generally anywhere from 10 to 20 stretch synthetic yarns are woven ineach edge to produce desirable coverage in the edge and generally theweave is a three over one weave to give the desired coverage. Morestretch yarns may be woven in one edge than in the other edge to givethe desired balance during the weaving operation.

In FIG. 8 there is shown the waist encircling portion of a pair oftrousers 22 with the narrow elastic fabric 23 in accordance with thepresent invention sewn to the inside waist portion of the trousers toform the final waistband of the trousers.

The above detailed description has been given for clearness ofunderstanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understoodtherefrom as modification will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. A thin, lightweight, narrow elastic fabric having a face surface anda back surface and suitable for use in the band encircling portion of anarticle of apparel, said fabric comprising a set of monofilament fillingyarns running in the transverse direction of the fabric and a set ofwarp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, said setof warp yarns comprising elastic yarns, stretch synthetic yarns, andnonelastic yarns, there being twice as many stretch synthetic yarns asthere are elastic yarns in the warp set and three times as manynonelastic yarns as there are stretch yarns in the warp set, saidnonelastic yarns being woven with said filling yarns in a twill weave toform the face surface of said fabric, said face surface being primarilycomposed of said nonelastic yarns to form a twill pattern on the facesurface, said stretch synthetic yarns and said elastic yarns being wovenwith said filling yarns in a plain weave with at least two stretchsynthetic yarns being disposed between adjacent elastic yarns to formthe back surface of said fabric, said elastic yarns forming acomplimentary diamond pattern on the face surface of said fabric wherebythe monofilament filling yarns are covered and stabilized in the fabrm.

2. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim I wherein the fillingyarns are 13 mil monofilament nylon yarns.

3. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim 1 wherein the elasticyarns are 1680 Spandex yarns wrapped top and bottom with nylon yarns.

4. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim 1 wherein the stretchsynthetic yarns are stretch nylon yarns.

5. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim 1 wherein the nonelasticyarns are multifilament nylon yarns.

6. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim 1 wherein the fillingyarns are 13 mil monofilament nylon yarns, the elastic yarns are 1680Spandex core yarns wrapped with stretch nylon yarns top and bottom, the

stretch synthetic yarns are stretch nylon yarns and the 5 nonelasticyarns are bright nylon multifilament yarns of 100 denier.

the sharp edges of the monofilament filling yarns.

1. A thin, lightweight, narrow elastic fabric having a face surface anda back surface and suitable for use in the band encircling portion of anarticle of apparel, said fabric comprising a set of monofilament fillingyarns running in the transverse direction of the fabric and a set ofwarp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, said setof warp yarns comprising elastic yarns, stretch synthetic yarns, andnonelastic yarns, there being twice as many stretch synthetic yarns asthere are elastic yarns in the warp set and three times as manynonelastic yarns as there are stretch yarns in the warp set, saidnonelastic yarns being woven with said filling yarns in a twill weave toform the face surface of said fabric, said face surface being primarilycomposed of said nonelastic yarns to form a twill pattern on the facesurface, said stretch synthetic yarns and said elastic yarns being wovenwith said filling yarns in a plain weave with at least two stretchsynthetic yarns being disposed between adjacent elastic yarns to formthe back surface of said fabric, said elastic yarns forming acomplimentary diamond pattern on the face surface of said fabric wherebythe monofilament filling yarns are covered and stabilized in the fabric.2. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim 1 wherein the fillingyarns are 13 mil monofilament nylon yarns.
 3. A narrow elastic fabricaccording to claim 1 wherein the elastic yarns are 1680 Spandex yarnswrapped top and bottom with nylon yarns.
 4. A narrow elastic fabricaccording to claim 1 wherein the stretch synthetic yarns are stretchnylon yarns.
 5. A narrow elastic fabric according to claim 1 wherein thenonelastic yarns are multifilament nylon yarns.
 6. A narrow elasticfabric according to claim 1 wherein the filling yarns are 13 milmonofilament nylon yarns, the elastic yarns are 1680 Spandex core yarnswrapped with stretch nylon yarns top and bottom, the stretch syntheticyarns are stretch nylon yarns and the nonelastic yarns are bright nylonmultifilament yarns of 100 denier.
 7. A narrow elastic fabric accordingto claim 1 wherein the set of warp yarns includes stretched nylon yarnsalong each edge of the warp set said yarns being woven with the fillingyarns in a tubular weave to cover the sharp edges of the monofilamentfilling yarns.